Social media won't work for benefits information: Survey
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Many U.S. workers use social media for personal reasons, but they aren’t as keen about receiving benefit communications through online sites such as Facebook and Twitter, according to a survey that the National Business Group on Health released Wednesday.
Forty-seven percent of full-time U.S. employees surveyed by NBGH said they use Facebook either daily or weekly for personal reasons, but only 7% said they use the website for business.
Moreover, about three-fourths of workers said they were not interested in receiving information via Facebook about their employer-sponsored health benefits, tips on improving their health or saving money on health care. About 80% said they had no interest in being “tweeted” with health benefits information via the Twitter website.
“Because we hear so much about social media…we’re made to feel that we’re out of it if we’re doing the old-fashioned things like home mailings,” said Helen Darling, present of the Washington-based NBGH, a consortium of nearly 300 large U.S. employers. “But even the youngest employees prefer receiving communications the old-fashioned way.”
In fact, fewer than 20% of employees younger that 34 said they would like to receive information such as how to choose a health plan or exercise tips via Facebook, according to the survey.
Based on the findings, Ms. Darling recommended that employers test the use of social media before adopting it for their employees. She also said that employers should not abandon the tried-and-true methods of benefit communications, including print mailings and workplace distributions and e-mail.
The survey, which was conducted in March, included responses from 1,500 full-time workers between the ages of 22 and 64.
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